US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) froze on Wednesday while answering questions posed by reporters at a press event in Covington, Kentucky, pausing for more than half of a minute before aides came to his side calling for a momentary break with the journalists.
Wednesday’s incident is the second time McConnell has had an issue while answering questions from the media, with the first occurring on July 26 during opening remarks at a weekly news conference at the US Capitol. Prior to July’s “freeze,” McConnell also appeared in 2020 at the Capitol with bruised hands and a swollen lip. And in March, he suffered a fall outside a Washington, DC, area hotel, during which he fractured a rib and was concussed.
While the senator has remained tight-lipped on his health and continued to brush off the incidents, he has not been the only politician who has suffered health issues and raised the matter of age limits in Congress.
Earlier this month, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is 90 years-old, was hospitalized for about two hours after she fell at her home, according to her spokesperson. This year, Feinstein has already missed three months of work in the Senate after earlier being hospitalized with shingles. And yet, despite her health struggles, she has vowed to remain in her position until her term ends in January 2025.
With the oldest president in history currently sitting in the Oval Office, Americans appear to be unanimously fed-up with what is becoming a gerontocracy.
According to one report, the average age of a US senator at the start of 2021 was about 65-years-old - the oldest age recorded in American history. A poll from 2022 determined that at least three in four Americans (73%) believe there should be a maximum age limit placed on elected officials.